


A Sadder Story

by Alyx Bradford (RogueBelle)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Drabble Sequence, F/M, House Stark, House Targaryen, Robert's Rebellion, Romance, Vignette, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-31
Updated: 2011-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-15 06:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueBelle/pseuds/Alyx%20Bradford
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of vignettes from the romance of Rhaegar and Lyanna. (15x100)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sadder Story

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written as a companion to a fanmix; the titles of the vignettes are the titles of the matching songs.

_Greenfinch and Linnet Bird_  
Lyanna's skirt caught on a gnarled root, sticking up out of the melting snow. Huffing in irritation, she gave it a good yank; the fabric came loose, but not without a few threads tearing, leaving the smooth grey wool warped.

She sighed. There would be more needlework for her. She had a neat stitch and a talent for patterns; in her basket in the castle was a yellow surcote being worked through with black antlers, a gift for her betrothed.

Lyanna chose to be good at what she did, even if she didn't have a choice about what that was.

\--

 _We're Young and Beautiful_  
The fields around Harrenhal rioted with colour, and Lyanna felt her heart leaping with excitement – and envy. Brandon would be entering the lists, and probably Ned, too, and Robert would doubtless be participating in the seven-sided melee that everyone was talking about. Benjen, too young, and Lyanna, too female, had to resign themselves to enthusiastically watching the events.

But Lyanna refused to sulk – as Benjen was pointedly doing. There was so much to see, so much to do, all the flowering youth of the Seven Kingdoms gathered on those fields, and it was spring. Lyanna was determined to enjoy herself.

\--

 _The First Kiss_  
Lyanna ran from the forest back towards the Stark tents, trying to smooth down her hair, and hoping she wasn't perspiring too badly. Ben was getting to be a decent sparring partner, but she had to right herself before someone else saw—

She rounded a tent and nearly collided with the Crown Prince. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Highness, I apologise for—"

The Prince shook his head and bowed, all courtesy, as though she did not look (and smell) like a stable-girl. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss upon it.

And then he was gone.

\--

 _Are We in Trouble Now_  
"You can't be here, you can't speak to me," Lyanna hissed. "If anyone sees you near our tents, they'll think—"

"I had to see you," Rhaegar said, snatching her hand and pressing it to his chest. "Before we left, before you went back... I couldn't not see you again."

"Do you know what a fuss you've caused? And Elia! What that poor lady must—"

"Elia knows what is necessary," Rhaegar said, perfectly placid.

Lyanna stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. "Necessary? Are you completely mad?"

"Mayhap," Rhaegar said, sounding as though he had quite made peace with the possibility.

\--

 _The Tower_  
The spring hadn't lasted. Only a few months of reprieve, and then bitter cold and snows returned to Westeros. In Winterfell, they'd hardly had time to leave at all.

Lyanna stared out at ice-white skies. She'd had nearly a year to reconcile herself. Harrenhal had been an error, a bubble of time, isolated from the flowing stream of her life. It wasn't real. She'd had almost a year to put it out of her head and go back to being the girl she'd been before, devoted daughter, intended wife, proper lady.

Yet somehow her dreams kept straying out that window.

\--

 _Mock Abduction_  
He had a horse waiting for her, a beautiful chestnut mare. She swung herself easily into the saddle and patted the beast's neck.

Lyanna looked over at Rhaegar and she felt dizzy, intoxicated. "This is mad," she said, half in a breathless laugh, almost in awe at her own recklessness.

"No, sweeting," Rhaegar said, "it is more sane, more sure than we can conceive."

"Leave off eternity for once," Lyanna said, teasing, pleading, sidling her horse beside his. "Tell me you love me."

"More than the stars in the sky, dear one," Rhaegar said, with infinite tenderness, kissed her cheek.

\--

 _Come What May_  
Red dawn had only just begun to bleed into the room. Gently, Rhaegar disentangled himself from Lyanna, shrugging out from under her arm. She murmured in her sleep, turning to hide her face from the sun, dark hair streaming over the pillows. He smiled, started to wake her with a kiss, then refrained, not wanting to disturb her peace.

Only in silences – and there weren't many of them, not with her – did Rhaegar question himself. He could bear the thought of marring his own life, but if he'd done wrong by her...

\--

 _Ash and Smoke_  
Lyanna jabbed the heels of her hands into her eyes, but nothing could stop the flow of tears. She should have known, should have guessed that her wild, foolish brother would do something drastic. He was supposed to be getting married, she'd so hoped it would take longer for the news to reach him, and when it did, his wife, his good, sensible wife would stop him from rushing heedlessly off to court further trouble--

The thought hit, and her knees went out from under her. "He was supposed to be getting married," she moaned, crumpled on the cool stones.

\--

 _Heaven Help My Heart_  
It had been easier to accept her decision before he'd left. When Rhaegar was there, talking of boundless love and entwined destinies, she knew perfectly well why she'd seized impulse and left Winterfell.

Alone, now, it was harder to convince herself that it was right. Her brother's voices haunted her footsteps, dogging her with doubts. And she wondered if it was so for Rhaegar as well; if, returned to his family, he might not balk at the chaos they had caused and decide it easiest to let Robert retrieve her.

She paced her chamber, and watched the sky for ravens.

\--

 _These Are Dark Days_  
"I have had a letter from my neice."

Rhaegar looked up at Prince Lewyn, expressionless.

"I confess, I quite don't understand her devotion to you, but if she has no quarrel with your wolf-maid paramour, I don't see how the rest of us can fault you for it. Your father need make no further threats. House Martell knew what it was getting into when it married the dragon."

"Thank you," Rhaegar said, with genuine appreciation.

"To it, then," the Prince said. "Baratheon and Stark are going to try to consolidate the riverlands, and we...

"Must not let them," Rhaegar finished.

\--

 _If I Never Knew You_  
"I didn't think it would be like this," Rhaegar confessed, voice breaking. "I thought it would... I don't know. But not like this."

Lyanna pressed her fingers over his lips. "Please, don't. No sorrows or regrets. No apologies." She smiled, as beautiful as ever, but the smile was older, sadder, still. "You brought a passion into my life that I'd never expected to have, never looked for. I will love you forever for that. And for..." She gestured to the generous swell beneath her gown. "I do not know if I carry the Prince you prophesize. But he is ours."

\--

 _The Wolf Hunt_  
The two emissaries stood awkwardly in the moonlight. "I know this a fool's errand," Lewyn said. "No one expects that Baratheon would surrender, but the usual courtesies must be observed."

Stark nodded, resigned. "Robert has been wronged. It is not a notion he easily releases."

"And you, my lord Stark?"

After a long hesitation, Stark's eyes went to the stars. "I loved my father and my brother. I love my sister. But no battle can restore the past."

"He isn't a monster, you know," Lewyn said. "Prince Rhaegar, he isn't... Judge him how you will, but he isn't his father."

\--

 _A Question of Honour_  
Rhaegar saw the great antlered helm rising above the men fighting in the river. As many fighters were being bested by the water as by blades, but Robert Baratheon surged onward, pressing his destrier through the chaos, roaring and shouting and leaving a trail of blood in the water behind him.

'I can end this now,' Rhaegar thought. 'I am the blood of the dragon. Fortune and fate favour me and mine. On the other side of this river is victory, and past that, Lyanna's embrace.'

He spurred his courser onward, into the charging water, and raised his sword high...

\--

 _A Beautiful Life_  
"No, Ned." Tears soaked her cheeks, but she was smiling. "Don't feel like that. Don't mourn so. I-" She winced, grimacing in pain, then continued, "I'm only sorry so many others got... pulled into this as well. Father, and Brandon, and..." Her gaze drifted out the window, and for a moment Ned thought she had gone. Then she sighed, smiling again. "But for myself? No. No, I'm not sorry. I was loved, Ned. Really and truly loved. And my boy, he'll..." Her breathing was coming harder now, raspy and rough. "He's meant for great things, Ned. Look after him. Please."

\--

 _Harvest of Sorrows_  
Eight cairns marked the spot where the tower had once been, marking the place where friends of his, good men, had died in the red sand. For what... Eddard Stark could not say. It was far too soon to tell.

A dusty wind stung at his eyes. He could not yet bring himself to look at the wagon, with it concealing silver-grey sheet.

"My lord?"

He turned to Howland. "To Starfall," he said, "to return Dawn. We will need to find a nursemaid. And," he added, looking at the bundle Howland awkwardly cradled, "we will need to find a story."

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this work, please check out [my blog](http://cassmorriswrites.com)! I also write original fiction, and my debut novel will be out January 2018.


End file.
